


Extinction event

by network



Series: Extinction Event-verse [1]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Mass Death, Plague
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2019-08-25 17:24:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16665034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/network/pseuds/network
Summary: "The question of which plagued me still was a simple one – why, upon looking out across the land from a vantage point, was so little life visible? Excluding the sparse and lightly populated villages, and the occasional lone house, humanity was spread thinly across Minecraftia. But, in my, as of yet, short exploration, I have reason to believe the land wasn’t always this way, and that some major event must’ve occurred to push human society to the edge of extinction.";I attempt to explain the loneliness and abandonment of Minecraft with my limited knowledge of plagues and my refusal to use a character other than Heranis.





	Extinction event

The question of which plagued me still was a simple one – why, upon looking out across the land from a vantage point, was so little life visible? Excluding the sparse and lightly populated villages, and the occasional lone house, humanity was spread thinly across Minecraftia. But, in my, as of yet, short exploration, I have reason to believe the land wasn’t always this way, and that some major event must’ve occurred to push human society to the edge of extinction.

Take, for example, the mineshafts still laying silent under the earth. Their structure suggests significant planning and careful construction, but their current state indicates a hasty abandonment. Ores still left in excavated passages, the remnants of rail tracks not salvaged despite their expense, minecart chests still full of gems, food and building supplies. In one older shaft, whose bridges almost game way and whose passages were filled with spider nests, contained a clue – a sign, once containing directions to other passages, now held upon it a hastily scrawled message:

                “Mine infected. Leave now.

                 Only death awaits.

                 - T.M.”

Within that mine I also found more detail on the source of the aforementioned warning. T.M. were the initials of Trevor Marlin, who, from the mining records I found in a minecart chest, was a famed miner with an unrivalled talent and work ethic. Local villagers recalled a person of that name living years ago, but records on him contained no death date, nor reason.

This was a surprisingly common occurrence across the sparse villages. Records existed of humans from years, decades, ago, their names, birth dates, occupation and families, but for a period of about 10 years, no data on their deaths. This wasn’t a fault of the recording methods of the time, however. Older entries, before this blackout of sorts, contained adequate detail – mining accidents, old age, mobs, and other common occurrences at those times.

The mineshafts, are, however, the least interesting remnants of the old world, in my view. Scattered across the landscape are single homes, from huts to houses, towers to mansions, all decrepit and falling to pieces against the occasionally harsh elements. In one small house’s basement I found a sight that still haunts my vision to this day. Two skeletons laying motionless, bundled into the corner furthest from the door, chests filled with rotten food, supplies and a diary with withering away pages. With the gaps in m knowledge, it was hard to be completely confident in any theory, but as I read the book and studied the skeletons – one about the size of an average adult, and one far… smaller – I could begin to piece together their story.

From the diary’s cut off pages, I read:

                “We lost Sara to it – Terola what they cal –

                 but damned be it’s name. Death is what –

                 we ‘ad to leave Jim’ be’ind too, too mu –

                 spent wit’ ma, too much risk.”

And another, dated two weeks later:

                “We should be safe ‘ere, if not, nowhe –

                 Home’s almost all infected, they say, if –

                 we want a chance we need ta flee. So i –

                 just me an’ Dana now. We need ta rati –

                 food, can’t ‘e sure that tha animals an’ –

                 aint infected. It’s cold an’ damp down –

                 its better than whats up there.”

And finally, another week later:

                “Dana’s ‘een coughing recently. It’s re –

                 us, I ‘now it, I dunno how. This is tha –

                 for us, there’s no surviving tha plague.”

The strongholds, however, were the most fascinating and knowledge-providing. It seems, from my experience, that the strongholds once acted as sprawling underground cities filled with people, containing everything from restaurants and armouries to massive gardens and palaces. The ruins of wonderous buildings and libraries containing ancient knowledge of building, mining, redstone, weapon-smiting and every other topic drew me to them, their abandoned beauty seemingly frozen in time from when the plague reached them. Within the hospitals located in the stronghold, I found the most concrete explanation of the near extinction event that tore the world apart. Within the underground city Festhrahold it was called “ASX-1”, and had clearly recorded details on its progression:

                “Patients start with limited symptoms – coughing comes first, as a means of spreading the infection. By the time this symptom is recorded the subject is quarantined, but it has likely already spread. Phase 2 starts a few days subsequent,                 characterized by immune suppression, becoming fatal in this stage for those with pre-existing illnesses, and increasing the spread and fatality of previously minor or nearly eradicated diseases. And from 2 to 3 weeks later, after the virus has had                 time to propagate, the body goes into total organ failure, causing a rapid death.

                Because of the slow development of the virus before its revelation, It has been difficult to quarantine.

                ASX-1 has also gained the ability to fester within livestock and crops, leading to an impossible choice between certain starvation or potential infection for the healthy.

 

                At this moment, we are looking at the possibility of total extinction.”

With these extra details I have begun to understand the true scale of this event. Back home, I asked the townspeople. The village in which I was raised has a peculiar natural resistance to the disease, which allowed my people to travel to other villages and care for the infected. The stories they told were horrific – of families torn apart, people dying in the streets, mass graves and pyres, and throughout it all? A feeling of complete helplessness and inability in the face of certain death.

And as I look out upon the world, I see it building again.


End file.
